Las Vegas mayor says without definitive evidence that the city's warm weather will allow it to be at the 'forefront of America's 'reopening''

• Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said on Twitter Friday that the city's warm weather would allow it to be at the "forefront of America's 'reopening.'"
• Despite not having definitive evidence of the effect of heat on the virus, Goodman said, "it is assumed that it will deter [the virus'] ferocity."
• Experts have warned that there is no proof the coronavirus will stop spreading in warmer weather.
• Goodman faced intense backlash this week for saying she would lift the city's coronavirus lockdown as part of a national experiment.
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Las Vegas' "dessert heat" will help it slow the spread of the coronavirus and allow it to lift coronavirus lockdowns earlier than other parts of the country, Mayor Carolyn Goodman claimed on Twitter Friday.

"Although, it has not been clearly determined as to the effect that extreme warmth will have on the virus, it is assumed that it will deter its ferocity," Goodman said. "Our hot summer coupled with our unique economy compel us to be at the forefront of America's 'reopening.'"

While there has been some precedent of other coronaviruses and influenza not thriving in warmer temperatures, there is no proof yet that the novel coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19 will respond similarly, and scientists have said people shouldn't bet on warm weather alone being enough to stop the coronavirus from spreading at alarming rates.

"One should not assume that we are going to be rescued by a change in the weather," Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Good Morning America earlier in April. "You must assume that the virus will continue to do its thing."

Goodman sparked outrage earlier this week after saying casinos and other hospitality businesses should be able to reopen as they wish and that competition in the market would force those with outbreaks to close again.

"Assume everybody's a carrier," the mayor told MSNBC's Katie Tur. "And then you start from an even slate, right there, and tell the people what to do. And let the businesses open, and competition will destroy that business if, in fact, they become evident that they have disease. They're closed down. It's that simple."

Tur, who appeared dumbfounded by Goodman's comments, called the idea "modern-day survival of the fittest."

Goodman doubled down on the comments Wednesday in an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, insisting again that the responsibility to keep residents and visitors safe should be left up to competition, not government oversight.

When asked how she would ensure that federal and state government social distancing measures are enforced if the city's businesses reopened, she said: "That's up to them to figure out. I don't own a casino."

Two unions — one representing 60,000 workers in the city's hotels, casinos, and other entertainment venues and another representing 9,000 healthcare workers in Nevada — have since hit back at Goodman's proposal, saying they don't want to be "an experiment in a petri dish" and "like a guinea pig in some wild experiment."

Haven Orecchio-Egresitz, Tom Porter, and Jake Lahut contributed reporting to this story.